Kimberly Pearce was Professor of Communication at De Anza College for more than 25 years. She is a cofounder of two non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations and a consulting business—the Public Dialogue Consortium, the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution, and Pearce Associates. All three organizations are in service of creating better patterns of communication in private and public settings. Additionally, the CMM Institute is the promoter and connector of all things related to the communication theory, the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM).

Kim’s commitments as a practitioner and researcher involve the connections among Buberian dialogue, adult transformational learning, interpersonal neuroscience, and the Coordinated Management of Meaning theory as leverages for creating more inclusive, compassionate, and reflexive ways of being and acting in a globalized, postmodern world. She has authored a book on Public Engagement and Civic Maturity, a book of illustrated poetry, Nine Lives, and has co-authored along with Barnett Pearce and Jesse Sostrin, CMM Solutions. Additionally, she has written and co-authored a number of book chapters and articles. Her work as a practitioner includes a number of projects in the United States, as well as in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, England, France, Greece, and Ireland.

Katrina S. Rogers, PhD, is President of Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, CA. She has served the international non-governmental and educational sectors in many roles, including executive, board member, staff, teacher, and volunteer. She led the European campus for Thunderbird School of Global Management in Geneva, Switzerland for a decade, working with international organizations such as the Red Cross, WTO, UNDP, and the European Union. She has doctorates in political science and history. In addition to many articles and books focused on organizational leadership in sustainability, Rogers serves on the Boards of the Toda Institute for Global Policy & Peace Research and the Public Dialogue Consortium. She received a Presidential post-doctoral fellowship from the Humboldt Foundation and was a Fulbright scholar to Germany where she taught environmental politics and history.

Don Marrs is a marketing consultant, career transition coach, and author. He retired from his own marketing firm in Los Angeles several years ago, a company he formed to give family businesses access to Fortune 500 know-how. Before that, he was VP, Creative Director at Leo Burnett, a multinational advertising agency based in Chicago. He also worked in creative development and marketing at the Walt Disney company, and in independent film production at Fox. He was advisor to seventeen political candidates, including a US Senator, a Governor, several members of the US House of Representatives, plus state and municipal office holders. Most recently he co-wrote a book on adult transformation and career transition.

Paige Marrs, PhD, is an executive coach and organization development consultant. She formed Marrs-Group Consulting & Coaching to offer communication and relationship expertise to executives and leadership teams. Paige has been an executive coach for 25 years and recently co-authored a book, “Executive in Passage,” on adult transformation and career transition. Her forthcoming book, “The Love Conversation™, reflects her work with couples, individuals, and non-profit groups. She studies with Dan Siegel, MD, world-renowned founder of the new field of interpersonal neurobiology, and was trained by cutting-edge communication theorist Barnett Pearce, PhD. Paige holds a doctorate in Human & Organizational Systems and Masters in Human Development.

Ilene Wasserman, PhD, founder and president of ICW Consulting has over 30 years of experience in Organizational Consulting, Strategic Planning, Change Management, Leadership Development and Executive Coaching. As Vice-President of a major consulting firm and founder and President of ICW Consulting, Ilene helps leaders and teams throughout organizations leverage multiple dimensions of domestic and global diversity by enhancing communication and collaboration. Ilene’s approach is appreciative, based on the principles that we transform organizational cultures through engaging the whole system. The culture of organizations is created and perpetuated in the stories people tell and live, and organizational structures and processes.

Ilene has worked with Fortune 100 companies, health and mental health care systems, as well as institutions of higher education, museums and community groups and has provided coaching to senior executives and boards of directors. She has also worked with senior leadership teams engage and resolve challenging conversations. In addition to consulting and coaching Ilene has taught consulting, managing diversity, communication, emotional intelligence and cultural competence and group dynamics at the graduate level.

“Transforming Communication for the Public Good”

PDC works with diverse communities to bring multiple views and perspectives into public engagement processes. We specialize in communication techniques that build trust, enable all segments of the community to be heard and respected, and to understand and learn from their differences.